"In Morocco, mountain areas extend over 19 million hectares, or 28% of the national territory. The forest, with 3.6 million hectares, occupies an important place there on an environmental, socio-economic, and cultural level.

It contributes to more than 70% of national forest production and offers the main employment opportunities for rural populations." This reminder from the FAO highlights the socio-economic singularity of the mountain ranges.

Mountain areas in Morocco occupy a place of choice in the economic and social fabric of Morocco, indicate the organisers of this seminar, and they underline that they are distinguished notably by their preponderant contributions in terms of conservation of genetic resources and maintenance of the country's overall water balance. During the last decade, according to statistics provided by the UN agency in charge of agriculture and food, the mountain holds 35% of the national utilised agricultural area (UAA), or 3.2 million hectares occupied essentially by cereals (62%) and arboriculture (14%).

For cereals, the main crops are barley and durum wheat. As for arboriculture, it is dominated particularly by the olive tree and the almond tree.

Livestock farming in mountain areas is of the extensive type based on small ruminants (sheep and goats) depending closely on silvo-pastoral resources. The number of livestock is estimated at 15.7 million head.

Training, preservation, and technical constraints

The symposium, initiated in partnership with the Fès-Boulemane Chamber of Agriculture, focuses on several axes, including "training of farmers in the field of rosaceae", "watershed management: an imperative for the sustainable development of mountain areas", "family farming", "technical, institutional, and social constraints of mountain development", "common goods and mountain development", and "preservation and enhancement of natural cultural heritage and sustainable development of mountain areas: case of the Abruzzo National Park and the communes of Scontrone (Italy)".

The event is organised on the sidelines of the second edition of the international "Montagne'Arts" festival, scheduled from 10 to 13 September, an annual cultural event that tends to preserve and develop the mountains, consolidate the tourist attractiveness of the region, and perpetuate local cultural traditions.